This invention generally relates to modular air conditioning systems, and more particularly to modular liquid-cooled air conditioning systems for corrosive industrial applications.
In work environments where heat production is problematic, such as when furnaces or sources of steam or water are present in the work area, temperature maintenance is critical to the safety of personnel and maintenance of appropriate operating temperatures for equipment, computers and the like. The frequency of accidents in general appears to be higher in hot environments than in more moderate environmental conditions (Working in Hot Environments, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Doc. No. S/N 017-03300458-7, 1992). Exposure to a hot work environment can bring about a variety of heat-induced disorders such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, fainting, heat rash, fatigue or other symptom which may cause workers to overlook safety procedures or to divert attention from hazardous tasks, resulting in injury. Thus, air conditioning systems employed in these environments must be of reliable construction and operation to ensure that a safe environment is sustained throughout a work period.
The problem of maintaining air temperature is more pronounced in hot industrial settings because of the difficulty in maintaining air conditioning systems exposed to corrosive materials. Over time, corrosive substances associated with various manufacturing processes contact and deteriorate materials such as, for example, copper, aluminum, iron etc., that are used to manufacture air conditioning system components. This exposure directly leads to the premature failure of many system components. When conventional industrial air-conditioning systems break down, maintenance usually requires extensive disassembly of the unit to locate and fix the component that has failed. This results in considerable down time for a work facility with a concomitant loss of revenue resulting from decreased productivity, and possible increased liability for work related injuries occurring after a system""s failure. Despite these drawbacks, air conditioning systems designed for use in industry have been slow to evolve. The poor structural design and relative inflexibility of industrial systems, i.e. the inability to exchange broken component parts quickly, often results in a protracted maintenance and repair period following system malfunction.
A recent trend in commercial and residential air-conditioning manufacturing has been to make systems that are modular in design and construction. This allows a user to interchange one or more components to fit a desired need, such as, for example, updating the cooling capacity of a unit without having to purchase an entirely new unit, while allowing increased access to one or more system components for repair or replacement. Several patents have issued on air conditioning systems that have modular construction or have one or more removable components. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,036 issued to Unico, discloses a modular air conditioning unit which comprises individual heating, cooling and blower modules. The system capacity may be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the size of an external condensing unit. However, the system does not offer removable assemblies of components in single operational units that may be readily interchanged on site to reduce down time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,878, issued to Bard, discloses a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system which is capable of receiving interchangeable ventilation modules having varying degrees of mixing abilities. However, the flexibility of that system is restricted in that it only allows interchange of ventilation modules. No other components are interchangeable, and therefore when a main component (e.g. blower, motor, compressor etc.) breaks down the entire system becomes inoperable until repaired. Numerous other patents have issued for air conditioning systems designed with removable panels for maintenance, or having one or more interchangeable or removable components.
Notwithstanding the variety of air conditioning systems available, no system currently available has adequately addressed the problems associated with system breakdown and repair in an industrial environment where maintenance of temperature is essential to the safety and productivity of a work force and maintenance of temperature for equipment operating requirements. A need therefore remains in the field for a system that is: capable of efficiently cooling an industrial work environment, constructed of materials impervious to corrosive materials commonly associated with industrial manufacturing processes, and designed for quick, on-site, repair and return to service. The present invention provides a modular system whereby heavy-duty, corrosion resistant components are mounted on easily releasable framed modules, such that when one component or an entire system fails, the existing framed module containing the failed component can be quickly exchanged with an identical, standby, framed module containing a fully operational set of components. The framed, standby, modules may be stored on-site to expedite the return to service of a system. In this way, downtime is minimized, productivity is maintained, and maintenance, repair or replacement of the broken component can be done at non-critical times.